What Brad did for Angelina

For the second week in the row, PEOPLE’s cover story is Brange with details from “insiders” about how Brad Pitt helped Angelina Jolie through her mastectomies:

"Brad did everything he could to keep things secret and protect Angie. They really wanted Angie to be able to recover and rest before they shared the story.”

It’s hilarious to me how they make it sound -- like the expected behaviour from a partner/husband would have been to sit around with his dick in his hand and do nothing.

Still, like Frank Pollaro the other day, who told GQ that he once heard Zahara asking her parents if they were going to start making out again -- click here for a refresher -- Brange continues to authorise associates to speak publicly about their relationship:

"They are very loving and inspiring to each other, exchanging ideas," says Jeremy Kleiner, a longtime exec at Pitt's Plan B production company and producer on his upcoming movie World War Z. On-set, "He would light up when his family showed up. It's just a very cool thing to see."

Right. So are we promoting World War Z or aren’t we?

Some promotion is more obvious. Excerpts are now being released from Brad’s interview with Esquire. These quotes are making headlines all over the place but they’re not any different from what he was saying last year. He used to smoke a lot of pot. He was not his best self. Now that he’s with the Jolie and the children, he’s happy. No new revelations. But I’ll post them anyway because this is what he’s selling:

On how’s he’s changed in the last 10 years since, ahem, that thing that happened 10 years ago happened:

“I’d get so far and then want to do something else. I mean, I’m two credits short of graduating college. Two credits. All I had to do was write a paper. What kind of guy is that? That guy scares me – the guy who always leaves a little on his plate. For a long time I thought I did too much damage – drug damage. I was a bit of a drifter. A guy who felt he grew up in something of a vacuum and wanted to see things, wanted to be inspired. I followed that other thing. I spent years fucking off. But then I got burnt out and felt that I was wasting my opportunity. It was a conscious change. This was about a decade ago. It was an epiphany – a decision not to squander my opportunities. It was a feeling of get up. Because otherwise, what’s the point?”

For the MiniVan Majority:

“I have very few friends. I have a handful of close friends and I have my family and I haven’t known life to be any happier. I’m making things. I just haven’t known life to be any happier. I always thought that if I wanted to do a family, I wanted to do it big. I wanted there to be chaos in the house… there’s constant chatter in our house, whether it’s giggling or screaming or crying or banging. I love it. I love it. I love it. I hate it when they’re gone. I hate it. Maybe it’s nice to be in a hotel room for a day – ‘Oh, nice, I can finally read a paper.’ But then, by the next day, I miss that cacophony, all that life.”

Like I said, it’s his mantra now. He just words it differently now and again.

For now then, the photos in Esquire are much more interesting. It’s Tristan Ludlow on a motorcycle. It’s Tristan with a camera. And Tristan aided, at times, by... a wind machine? Please. There is definitely a wind machine happening here. Click to see more photos.